When Steve Reid started working from home early in the pandemic, he found himself moving spaces several times per day.
He’d start at a desk placed in his two-year-old daughter’s room, then shift to the kitchen table when her nap time came around, and back to the desk when she woke.
“It’s not easy to be productive when you’re constantly packing up your things and moving somewhere else. Neither space was really designed for it,” said the structural engineer.
“I thought, how great would it be if you could have a space at home, separate from the house to remove the distractions, remove the dirty dishes and all that stuff, but be at home and have the flexibility to do your work.”
That’s the inspiration behind Cabin Office Company. For the next couple months, Reid spent his evenings and weekends crafting plans for a small building with comfortable work space in his Exhibition Park-area backyard.
Having always wanted to run his own business, and with some savings in the bank to fall back on just in case, Reid quit his job in June to focus on his new endeavour.
“I was just so attached to (the concept), I thought, ‘if I don’t do something about this, then I’m always going to wonder’,” he explained. “If at the end of three months nothing is happening and no one is interested, then I know.”
Since then Reid has built two office cabins – one for his first customer, also in Guelph, and the backyard model that got him started down this path.
In the middle of preparing his own cabin, which would also act as a model to show others, his first order came in and he shifted gears to complete that job.
He launched the model home on Saturday, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by Mayor Cam Guthrie and MPP Mike Schreiner, and an open house.
“It’s ticking along nicely,” Reid said of his business. “Landing these next two (orders) and having four built by the new year will be a really positive thing for me.”
The insulated cabins are eight feet by 12 feet – intentionally kept just below the size that would require a building permit – a natural wood product on two outside walls and steel cladding on the other two, with a sloped roof.
They feature an all wood interior, with a heated floor courtesy of an electricity line running underground from the house, and are held in place by a series of steel screws sunk five feet into the ground.
Reid prefabricates the pieces at a shop and, with a helper, assembles them at the customer’s home. Contractors are called up to install the ground screws and run the power line, as well as to do the ceiling and “other fine work.”
In addition to chasing his entrepreneurial aspirations and helping people with their work-from-home challenges, Reid wants to “make a difference” in the community. That’s why he’s pledged to donate one per cent off the top of every sale, about $250, to charity.
“I’m really hoping to be a strong company in the community,” he said.
For more information about Cabin Office Company, visit www.cabinoffice.ca.
